PKK Links, Nusra Parallels Make Syrian Kurds a Troubling U.S. Partner

Frustration over U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish militants seems to have prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pose a thought experiment over what, exactly, is a terrorist.

The United States has developed a close working relationship with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which have emerged as the most effective fighting force against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Turkey has watched this with increasing alarm. It alleges the YPG and its political wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), together form the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Marxist-Kurdish nationalist organization that waged a decades-long war against the Turkish state and is now at the heart of an escalating insurgency in Turkey’s southeast. ...

Get unlimited access to must-read news, analysis and opinion from top experts.
Subscribe to World Politics Review and you'll receive instant access to 9,000+ articles in the World Politics Review Library, along with new
comprehensive analysis every weekday . . . written by leading topic experts.